Choosing Gratitude

September 10, 2018

Gratitude is not a feeling. It’s a choice, a way of looking at life in its glory and also in its drudgery and dismay. For whatever reason, I’ve felt rather subdued today. Perhaps it has something to do with listening to various people and the often troubled and tragic experiences they are having. Over the past few days, Linda and I have witnessed a number of situations, listened to people’s worries and fears, talked them through circumstances they are helpless to change, prayed with them and for them.

We are honored to be invited into people’s lives, to be entrusted with secrets and sins, failures and fears, and we are continually amazed at people’s resiliency and faith in the face of seemingly unconquerable mountains. We are humbled as we watch people pick up the shattered pieces of their lives and keep moving ahead in spite of the unknown and lack of spiritual, emotional, and often physical resources. 

People who have made bad choices that are coming back to haunt them, people who have been dealt one of life’s bum hands, people who in spite of their difficulties keep ministering to others—I bow before them. And in light of their sorrow and pain, while I cannot say I am happy, I am grateful. Grateful to know them, grateful to serve alongside them, grateful to have been chosen to be a confidante. I am blessed to play even a small role in their lives, and pray that whatever I say or do will be an encouragement, a stepping stone instead of a stumbling block.